20 May 2008

S4C’s fourth biennial choral competition, Côr Cymru, which has a top prize of £7,000, will be officially launched on Tuesday night’s Wedi 7 magazine programme (20 May, 7.00pm, S4C).

Choirs from Wales or those further afield with a close connection to Wales, or choirs which perform regularly in the Welsh language, are welcome to enter the competition, which will be held in 2009. The closing date for entries is 6 October 2008.

The competition is split into five categories: Children’s Choirs 16 years of age and under; Youth Choirs under 25 years of age; Mixed Voice Choirs; Female Voice Choirs and Male Voice Choirs.

A panel of international judges will adjudicate the competition, with preliminary rounds held during November 2008. The semi-final round will be held during February 2009 and the final round will take place on Sunday, 5 April at The Great Hall, Aberystwyth Arts Centre.

The competition is organised by production company Rondo Media on behalf of S4C and the semi-final and final rounds will be recorded by Rondo and broadcast on S4C and S4C’s digital channel, S4C Digidol.

Robert Nicholls, S4C’s Content Editor Culture said, “Wales boasts a long tradition of fine choral singing and S4C aims to raise the standard even further.

“S4C is passionate about the arts and the Côr Cymru initiative shows our commitment to bringing the best in live choral music to our viewers in their own homes.”

The competition’s previous winners are mixed choir Cywair from Newcastle Emlyn (2007), Serendipity from Cardiff (2005) and Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion (2003).

As well as the winner of the 2009 Côr Cymru competition, there will also be a special prize awarded at the final to the competition’s best conductor. 2007 saw Mari Pritchard, conductor of Côr Ieuenctid Môn (Anglesey Youth Choir) win the title.